Jim McWethy '65

Friendly and personable to the extreme, Jim McWethy ’65 is something of a modern renaissance man.

“What I call myself is an independent business
man. I have a broad spectrum of investments,” said
McWethy, before rattling off a number of business
ventures including stakes in or outright ownership of a
blueberry farm, a golf course, a software company, and
involvement in his son’s hydroponic tomato business.

Only, not the type of involvement one might expect.
“I deliver tomatoes part-time,” said McWethy quite
matter-of-factly. “It’s kind of fun. It’s fun to a point.”

McWethy said he keeps very busy, despite being
“technically retired,” with his various investments,
involvement in the Berry Center, and an interest in politics.

“If you put them all together, I work
harder than when I was employed. I’m
trying desperately to slow down, but
there seems to be something in my
brain that I just can’t do it,” he said.

McWethy’s fortune was built on his
grandfather Lester Berry’s successful
company, Berry Bearing Co., the world’s
largest privately held industrial bearings
distributor prior to its sale. Berry was “the perfect
example of an entrepreneur,” said McWethy. “He had a
vision to do something no one had ever done before.” It’s
Berry after whom the Center is named, and it was Berry’s
underprivileged upbringing in New York that grounded
McWethy, the results of which are evident at Cornell.

“He’s surprisingly down to earth,” said senior Ben
Sebers. “He obviously loves Cornell. He really loves the
school. What more can you ask for from an alum?”

“He genuinely wants to see Cornell students succeed,”
said senior Audrey Saunders, who, as a Berry Center
stalwart, has met and interacted with McWethy on
several occasions. “He can’t sit still. He’s always
excited to talk with students.”